Yuvraj Singh gained revenge for his recent Oval mauling by becoming only the fourth man in history to hit six sixes in an over to condemn England to a humiliating World Twenty20 exit tonight.

India's spinning all-rounder suffered the indignity of having his final five balls of the innings hit for six by Hampshire's Dimitri Mascarenhas during the penultimate match of the NatWest Series at The Oval.

But only 14 days later - and perhaps spurred on by an exchange of views at the start of the over with Andrew Flintoff - Yuvraj executed his revenge in style by hitting 36 off Stuart Broad's over.

It was a stunning response to the angry exchange with Flintoff, which was broken up when umpire Billy Doctrove stepped in, and helped India reach a commanding 218 for four, the third-highest total in international Twenty20 history.

Facing such a daunting tally, England never really threatened to overhaul it and were restricted to 200 for six in reply to suffer an 18-run defeat and bow out of the tournament with only a victory over Zimbabwe to their name having invented the game only four years ago.

England already knew they had no interest left in the competition by the time they began their match under the Kingsmead lights with South Africa's victory over New Zealand in the afternoon confirming their fate.

Perhaps frustrated by their failure to perform in the tournament, Yuvraj increased their despair in spectacular fashion by using his confrontation with Flintoff to spark one of the most memorable overs in recent cricket history.

Unlike Sir Gary Sobers and Ravi Shastri, who both achieved the feat in first-class cricket in front of a smattering of spectators, and Herschelle Gibbs' effort against Holland during the recent World Cup before another sparse gathering, Yuvraj's performance was delivered in front of a healthy 15,802 crowd.

Nearly every member of that crowd cheered every shot with Broad being hit over long on off the first ball, over backward square leg off the second and then over extra cover to set up the prospect of an historic achievement.

The next went over backward point, the next over mid-wicket to send the crowd into a frenzy of expectation before he finished off the feat in style by clubbing the final ball of the over over long-on.

In doing so, he brought up his half-century off only 12 balls, which included three fours and six sixes and was the fastest in international cricket history.

By the time he was out in the next over, caught at long-off attempting to drive Flintoff down the ground, he had hit 58 off 16 balls and dominated a fourth-wicket stand of 61 off only 19 deliveries.

Yuvraj's spectacular innings had enabled India to reach a competitive total after the loss of three wickets in as many overs had undermined a positive start from opening pair Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

Deciding to bat first after winning the toss, India made a cautious start and had reached only 41 without loss at the end of the six overs of fielding restrictions.

But the introduction of Hampshire'scChris Tremlett, preferred to leg-spinner Chris Schofield for England's final match, in the seventh over sparked a change in emphasis and Sehwag went on to dominate a 136-run stand off only 88 balls.

His first delivery was upper-cut for six, but Tremlett gained his revenge by bowling Sehwag for 68 off 52 balls as he advanced down the wicket.

Tremlett also bowled Robin Uthappa in similar fashion in his next over while Gambhir was caught in the deep after hitting 58 off 41 balls to unite MS Dhoni and Yuvraj at the crease to provide the knockout blow.

Facing an almost impossible task, England began brightly and were ahead of the rate during the early overs with Darren Maddy and Vikram Solanki celebrating their second successive half-century stand.

Both openers fell to all-rounder Irfan Pathan attempting to keep up with the rate and, not for the first time this tournament, England's hopes rested on Kevin Pietersen, the third Hampshire player in the England XI, to provide the inspiration if they were to even get close to India's total.

Attempting to force a full toss from Harbhajan Singh through mid-wicket, Pietersen instead gave a sharp return catch for 39 and spark a familiar mid-innings collapse which effectively ended England's challenge.

Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood fell in the space of three balls to left-arm seamer RP Singh and with one over remaining England, remarkably, needed 36 for victory.

Instead of Yuvraj's fireworks to finish their innings, however, Flintoff and Luke Wright were only able to add 17 as England's campaign ended with a whimper.